1. Field of the Invention
A method of preparing a frozen beverage by blending a slug or nugget of ice particles and a flavor ingredient in a disposable vessel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the popularity of “frozen drinks” has been increasing dramatically. These drinks typically consist of a mixture of flavorings, fruit puree, coffee, liquor, dairy products and/or other ingredients and a finely-divided ice/water mixture that has the consistency of a thin paste. This type of drink is often called a Smoothie at branded Jamba Juice or a “slush” drink at branded 7/11 or a blended coffee like branded Starbuck's Frapachino.
Historically, from the 1940's a frozen drink was made by placing the ingredients of the drink, including ice in the form of cubes or crushed ice, in a blender pitcher like the branded Waring blender. The blender is then operated for the considerable amount of time required to reduce the ice to a finely-divided state. The mixture is then transferred to a drinking glass or disposable cup for consumption. Then in 1986 John Herbert, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,030, invented a better way of doing this by first shaving ice into a blender and then blending the ingredients. This increased the speed and consistency of the final ice slurry because the shaved ice is made by pressing ice against a rotating blade, which was far more efficient than having ice cubes bouncing around in a blender and only making contact with blender blade after the ice cubes fall through the solution only to bounced back up again after hitting the blade. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,030 shows an apparatus for preparing frozen drinks, in which an ice-shaving machine is combined with a blender in a single unit, the output of the ice-shaving machine being discharged directly into the blender cup. The ice-shaver and the blender are electrically wired together, and programmable timing means are provided to permit selective control of the periods of time over which the ice-shaver and blender operate, so that, by the momentary activation of a single switch button, the apparatus may be activated and will automatically deliver the appropriate amount of ice to the blender cup and will turn on the blender at the appropriate time and for the appropriate amount of time.
In 1994 various inventors, such as Reese and Hanson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,901, added automatic dispensers of flavorings “to provide, in a beverage dispensing machine having a blender, a portion control means to dispense a precise predetermined amount of the drink mix and shaved ice, respectively, thereby avoiding waste and inconsistent flavors. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,901 relates to a beverage dispensing machine assuring precise portion control of the respective drink mixes being dispensed, and the precise amount is adjustable within certain limits. The drink mixes are in respective beverage receptacles (or drink tubes) arranged in a side-by-side relationship with respect to each other, and a plurality of selection buttons are disposed directly below the receptacles in substantial vertical alignment therewith. A counter and a interrupt button, respectively, are also provided on the control panel. The level of the drink mixes as well as the ice in the reservoir, are readily visible at all times. Upon initiation of the blending cycle, the blender motor is started, and after a first time delay, the drink mix is discharged into the blender for a first time period. Upon a second time delay following initiation of the discharge of the mix, the ice shaver motor continues for a second time period; and the blender motor continues after discharge of the mix and delivery of the shaved ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,075 discloses a method and apparatus for preparing a frozen slush beverage where ice in chunk form is mixed with flavoring agent under conditions causing carbon dioxide part of the gas to be absorbed by the mixture producing the frozen beverage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,673 describes a disposable cup containing beverage ingredients including ice placed within a rigid receptacle. A closure is moved into the open top of the cup sealing its interior from the ambient atmosphere. A cutter carried by the closure is rotated within the cup to agitate the ingredients while carbon dioxide is forced into the cup through the closure at a pressure which would normally deform the cup walls. Following the agitation, the closure lifts the cup under the influence of the pressurized carbon dioxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,223 shows an auger-type ice-making apparatus includes a new and improved auger or auger assembly having one or more generally spiral flight portions with one or more grooves formed transversely across the outer edges of the flight portions. The grooves interrupt the generally spirally-extending contact between the outer auger edges and the inner surface of an evaporator housing, thus reducing the area of contact therebetween and, as a result, reducing the load on the auger bearings. The grooves also provide a stress-relieved area on the flight portion during scraping of ice particles from the inner surface of the evaporator and tend to balance the forces on the auger bearings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,773 relates to an apparatus for making a soft ice-drink comprising an ice mechanism including a shaver casing having a slit to which a shaving blade is exposed and a shaved ice discharge chute, rotatable blades, provided within the shaver casing, for cooperating with the shaving blade to shave ice blocks charged into the shaver casing, and a mixing mechanism under the ice shaving mechanism, including rotary blades, rotatably supported within a container disposed beneath the shaved ice discharge chute, for mixing together a liquid material such as a syrup present within the container and shaved ice pieces discharged into the container and smashing the shaved ice pieces into granules of ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,377 teaches a frozen drink machine and a method for making frozen drinks from a frozen substance which has been frozen into a cup. The cup contains a frozen substance positioned in a cup support located in the frozen drink machine. A rotatable blade having features for grinding the frozen substance and for aerating the ground frozen substance is lowered into the cup, grinding the frozen substance while a liquid is simultaneously introduced into the cup. In an alternative embodiment, a second blade is provided which incorporates air into the liquid before the liquid is introduced into the cup.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,749 relates to an auger-type ice maker comprising partitions projectingly provided on the outer periphery of a pressing head which has been inserted and fixed to the upper portion of an ice-making cylinder 1, wherein fixed blades are formed at the lower portion of the partitions so as to be offset in the radial direction, and wherein the tip of the inner circumference side portion thereof is situated above the greater diameter portion of the auger provided with a spiral blade. In the above construction, the offset corner portion is provided with a curvature. Accordingly, ice can be prevented from being compressed to and adhering to the corner portion. Thus, the transporting resistance of ice at the lower portion of the partitions projectingly provided to the outer periphery of the pressing head can be reduced, thereby preventing decreasing in ice-making capabilities and abnormal sounds or vibrations being emitted owing to ice jamming occurring.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,348 shows a method for preparing a flavored confection using a disposable container of a neutral-flavored mix, transferred from a storage freezer to a tempering freezer. The container is removed from the tempering freezer, and a selected syrup is pumped from a carton into the disposable container for blending while the mix remains chilled.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,675 discloses a frozen beverage mixing unit has a hollow housing with an open bottom and a shaving disc with a cutting knife is rotationally mounted inside the housing. A piston moves above the shaving disc pushing a frozen product into a contact with the cutting blades of the shaving disc. A plurality of pumps deliver a pre-determined amount of a selected additive, such as alcohol, syrup, carbonated water or water, on top of the shaving disc to mix with the ice crystals created by the shaved frozen product. The additive is mixed with the shaved frozen product in a mixing container placed below the shaving disc.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,875 relates to a method for preparing a flavored slurried confection includes the use of a disposable serving container holding an individual serving of a neutral flavored mix which has a freezing point temperature lower than normally found for that of water. A large supply of the mix filled containers is stored in a storage freezer for maintaining the neutral flavored mix at a storage temperature, such as is typical of a food storage freezer for a restaurant. A desired quantity of the mix filled containers is then transferred from the storage freezer to a tempering freezer, generally close to a preparation and serving area, for maintaining the neutral flavored mix at a desirable blending temperature. The mix filled container is then removed from the tempering freezer for preparation of a flavored confection, such as a flavored shake. In preparing the flavored confection, a small quantity of a selected syrup is pumped from a selected bag-in-the-box styled carton into the mix filled container for blending the selected syrup with the neutral flavored mix while the mix remains chilled at the blending temperature. The small quantity of syrup adds provide the selected flavor to the neutral flavored mix for forming the flavored slurried confection which is then served within the disposable serving container.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,278,275 teaches a mechanism for dispensing ice in each of three selected forms, namely, cubed, crushed and shaved. This mechanism includes a reservoir arranged to hold a supply of ice cubes, a dispensing zone, a delivery mechanism arranged for dispensing ice cubes from said reservoir to said dispensing zone, an ice crushing mechanism located in said dispensing zone arranged to selectively crush ice, an ice shaving mechanism located in said dispensing zone arranged to selectively shave ice, and a control mechanism arranged to selectively activate said ice crushing mechanism and said ice shaving mechanism upon receipt of an appropriate input from a user.
Additional examples of the prior art are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,855,007; U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,131; U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,901; U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,362; U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,118; U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,712; U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,627; U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,691; U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,569; U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,323: U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,157 and U.S. 2002/0194999.
Many of these devices automatically delivered the ingredients. However, one of the principal problems with such method of making frozen drinks is the time and effort it takes to pour the drink out of the blender and into a serving glass or disposable cup and then having to thoroughly wash the blender. Also, if the blender is not washed properly because they are quickly trying to serve another customer who is waiting for a strawberry drink, but just after a chocolate drink is made, then it is easy to get cross contamination where there is chocolate inside the strawberry drink. The problem of washing a blender picture is greater than most vessels because there is a lot of surface area in the picture when compared to the size of the drink being served and also, because there is a blade inside the picture, there are many nooks and crannies that can “hold onto” the food.
A further problem associated with the conventional method arises from the amount of time consumed delivering drinks in serial fashion. If there is only 1 blender and 10 drinks are ordered, then they have to be made one after the other and little simultaneous actions can take place. So if it takes 1 minute to make a drink, it will take 10 minutes to make 10 drinks.
A further problem associated with the conventional method arises from the fact the staff must only do one thing when they make the drink, which is make the drink.
They cannot “multi-task” and help another customers while they are making the drinks because they have to “tend” the machine by emptying and washing blenders, pouring drinks, etc. in other words, if they stop tending the machine, then the drink making process will stop.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide apparatus which can make frozen drinks quickly and efficiently and to do so in an automatic fashion directly in the serving cup without the use of a blender.
Various attempts have been made to blend inside a disposable cup, but the problem has been that the cup is too big, so the customer feels he has been cheated with a ⅔ cup of drink. The solution to this was to put a steel ring around the top of the cup to temporarily extend the height of the cup. The problem with this is that the metal ring needs to be washed or it will cause cross contamination and so on.
In addition, attempts have been made to blend inside a disposable cup such as Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,875 where he blends a drink that already has a neutral base material inside the cup and his machine is used to add syrups and flavorings to the disposable cup. However, this requires that a large storage of pre-filled cups be kept in a frozen state at the point of delivery. This can cause an inventory problem in the stores. Generally there is limited space in the retail area, therefore, only a few cups can be held in this area without consuming too much space. In addition, the refrigerated walk-in freezers are usually crowded with other products. Although there are many machines that use a pre-filled cup from a factory and the blending machine is used to finish-off the drink with the addition of either syrup, water or heat, they all have the problem of taking up refrigerated inventory space in a retail store.